That being said, there’s nothing august about August when it comes to basketball.

August, especially the beginning of the month, is boring. It’s the yearly equivalent to a South American siesta. Nobody’s home.

Rookies Alex Len and Archie Goodwin are wrapping up NBA orientation week. Goran Dragic and Marcin Gortat have national team obligations. Other guys are working out and/or playing away from 201 E. Jefferson during the dead window between NBA Summer League and team workouts.

In short, it’s a huge hoops voide that feels longer due to 1) the eagerly anticipated offseason changes that took place off the court and 2) the results of those changes that can only be measured on it.

The moratorium will end. Players, starting with Len and Goodwin, will start trickling into US Airways Center for informal workouts. We’ll start getting an idea behind the intrigue of everyone new to Planet Orange.

Among the many pending storylines, here’s a few this committee of one is sick of waiting to see:

1) Position competition. Jeff Hornacek has repeatedly stated that training camp and rotation decisions will be an anyone-goes affair. Young guys drool over that kind of opportunity, and the Suns are mostly a young team. How intense will practices get? Will Hornacek actually have to calm things down at one point? And will he be able to keep from smiling while he’s doing it? Either way, it’s hard not to look forward to each starter truly earning his spot before all is said and done.

2) Bledsoe unleashed. “Potential” and Bledsoe have been mentioned in the same breath for young guard’s entire career. With more opportunities than ever now available, how exactly will that talent unfold? High scoring? Better playmaking than anyone knew about? Unprecedented defensive numbers from the guard position? Nobody knows (yet), but finding out can’t come soon enough.

3) Rookie impact. Alex Len (20) and Archie Goodwin (almost 19) are the youngest of the young. That being said, Hornacek has indicated that both will figure into the team’s game-to-game picture this season. Workouts and practices are where impressions are made, impressions that solidify or alter the coaching staff’s plans. Will Goodwin continue to impress against better competition? Will Len show off the skill set that had Phoenix high on him in the first place? If the answer to either is “yes”, then it will only strengthen Suns GM Ryan McDonough’s offseason momentum in the public eye.

4) The over-under on practice dunks. My man Greg Esposito already pointed out this year’s Suns roster has unlimited “anarchy” potential. Between Gerald Green, Shannon Brown, Eric Bledsoe and Archie Goodwin, midair collisions might be a real concern if Goran Dragic ever has two or more of that quartet on his squad.

The passing of Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss was felt not just in Los Angeles but around the entire NBA Monday. From players to rival executives, words of condolence and praise for one of the most successful owners in league history poured in from across various media platforms.

One member of the Suns that was directly affected by Buss and his leadership was guard Shannon Brown, who played two and a half seasons in a Lakers uniform.

“It’s so sad to hear it,” Brown said. “My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.” [Read more...]

Well that’s it! After 3,586 games, the Phoenix Suns’ franchise has officially come to an end. That is if you believe the Mayan sports schedule. According to our ancient friends from the south, Friday is the final day of the season. That is, every season known to man.

If they’re right, the curtain will fall on the world and Planet Orange. Yes, the Suns will have played their final game in franchise history on Wednesday and what a way to go out! [Read more...]

That’s what happened at US Airways Center on Friday night. After trailing the Cavs by as many as 26 points and after falling behind 36-17 after one quarter, the Suns completed the third largest comeback in franchise history and the largest ever seen by a crowd in Phoenix. It was proof that the beauty of sports is anything can happen at any time. [Read more...]

It’s episode No. 2 of Suns One-on-One, the official team podcast, and it’s an impromptu edition of the show. While our host Greg Esposito usually will only do one show a week, Shannon Brown’s amazing fourth quarter performance on Wednesday in Charlotte warranted a second show of the week. We talk to Head Coach Alvin Gentry about what it’s like to have a player get that hot, if your ever tempted to give him a breather and if Brown’s performance rivaled Goran Dragic’s third quarter in the 2010 Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. We then catch up with the man of the hour — or is that of the six minute podcast? — Brown. The shooting guard breaks down his performance and shares if he thinks anyone could have out shot him last night.

Don’t forget you can find a new episode of the show here every week, you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes and listen in the Suns App .

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If you’re a child of the 90s when you hear the phrase “He’s on fire!” your thoughts immediately turn into a 16-bit versions of reality. That’s because the phrase was made popular by the genre defining video game NBA Jam. On Wednesday night in Charlotte, Suns shooting guard Shannon Brown made it popular again.

In the 4th quarter, with his team clinging to an 85-81 lead after being ahead by double-digits, Brown decided to get hotter than a Suns Dancers swimsuit calendar shoot (which just happened to occur on Wednesday as well). The swingman entered the final quarter with a relatively quiet 9 points. That didn’t last for long. [Read more...]

With the Suns getting the 100-94 victory in Dallas, it only seemed appropriate to take a closer look at the win. Here are three interesting observations, or oddservations if you will, from the game.

1) Big D(efense)

For those of us covering Suns practices this preseason, Alvin Gentry started to sound like a broken record (or for those of a younger generation, a scratched CD or a corrupt MP3 file). For the better part of three weeks the head coach had preached that his team needed to get better on the defensive end and on the offensive glass if they wanted to win on a regular basis. It was like he could see into the future. [Read more...]

Ask a group of people which super power they’d most want and a majority of them will tell you invisibility. Sure, plenty of people would say they’d choose the ability to fly, have x-ray vision or do celebrity impressions like Frank Caliendo for a myriad of reasons but the chance to go through certain aspects of life unseen supersedes them all. That’s because only the power of invisibility gives you the chance to accomplish things and do it with the element of surprise.

In sports it is a power that teams don’t necessarily want but sometimes will accept if it’s thrust upon them. The element of surprise for a team in sports isn’t called invisibility. It’s better known as being the underdog. [Read more...]

As you grow up sometimes you see your childhood heroes in a new light, and sometimes that light isn’t flattering. Other times it’s just plain scary or, at the very least, completely surprising.

I experienced that firsthand the other day while watching television. During my one free hour not spent focusing on the Suns, one of the mindless shows I watch went to commercial before I could fast-forward with the DVR remote, and I was greeted with an image of a sports idol from my youth. It was a face familiar to any Suns fan that has been in the Valley for years, yet there was something completely different about him. That was because this individual was wearing a little black dress, had shaved legs and was wearing a wig. [Read more...]

Spending four days in a makeshift room inside of a college student union will do strange things to a person’s brain. Especially when said person is fueling themselves with nothing but cafeteria food and any caffeinated beverage they can get their hands on. Early mornings that turn into late nights surrounded by other media members tapping at their keyboards so furiously that it sounds like some kind of old school factory, leads the mind to strange places. Places where they find comparisons between the oddest things.

Case in point, comparing the newcomers on the Phoenix Suns’ roster and new the shows on television this year. Such is life at Grand Canyon University for Suns Training Camp. [Read more...]

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